Page 91 of The Demon Tide

Fain interlaces his fingers, his aura consolidating into a dense, invisible cloud around him. “Your parents were attempting to rescue a group of Asrai Fae children before they could be shipped to the Pyrran Islands.” His mouth tenses and the entire room ripples and darkens for a moment. “Your grandmother found out about it and executed them.”

I look at Trystan, my throat gone dry. He’s sitting beside Fain and Sholindrile, looking calm enough, but I can sense the wind and water auras coursing fitfully around him, just as my fire has kicked up into a tangled, troubled blaze.

“Your grandmother didn’t want your family’s illustrious name sullied,” Fain continues in a bitter tone. “So she pretended they’d been killed by Kelts.”

I grapple with the truth, stunned by how thoroughly this was hidden from me and my brothers. I turn to Lucretia, outrage blooming, unable to keep the accusation from my tone. “Why didn’t you tell us? Why didn’t Jules?”And why didn’t Uncle Edwin?

“Elloren, we couldn’t,” she insists with obvious remorse, then pauses, seeming at a loss for words.

“It was too dangerous,” Fain cuts in with a look of concern toward Lucretia. “Everyonewho knew that Vale and Tessla had been involved in the Resistance was killed, with very few exceptions. Do you realize how dangerous that information is in the Western Realm? That the son of the Black Witch was a Resistance organizer?”

A memory surfaces, adding to my morass of questions.

“Aunt Vyvian told me that Jules and our mother were...together,” I say. I’m hit by a sudden flash of unsettled water magery and turn toward its origin to find Lucretia’s gaze pinned firmly on the table. Her water aura, always so tightly constrained, is sluicing through her lines with surprising intensity. I remember Diana telling me about the strong attraction she sensed between Lucretia and Jules, neither aware of the other’s affections.

Fain spares a sympathetic glance toward Lucretia before setting his troubled gaze back on me. “Jules and your mother were from the same Keltish border town. Way downriver. In his youth, Jules was in love with her. But Tessla viewed him only as a close friend. There was never anything between them, and in time, Jules reconciled himself to Tessla’s fasting to his closest friend, your father, Vale.”

Heat pricks at my neck and my gaze flicks back to Lucretia, sorry to have poked at this private pain, even as I’m struck by the remembrance of the odd, emotional looks that would sometimes come over Professor Kristian’s face when he looked at me. How he told me once that I reminded him of someone, refusing to specify who.

“So, all this time,” I say to Fain, “Jules Kristian was hiding an extensive history with my own parents.”

“Elloren...” Fain starts, splaying his palms toward me, as if in supplication.

“I understand,” I say with a slight, halting wave. “I see why he didn’t tell me.” I meet Lucretia’s tense gaze. “But still, I wish my brothers and I weren’t left so completely in the dark.” I turn to Li’ra, who is quietly sitting beside me. “How did you and Or’myr get to the Eastern Realm?”

Li’ra’s lilac-hued face tenses. “During the Realm War,” she says, voice low, “your grandmother found out about Edwin and me. She threatened Edwin and told him...that she’d have me killed if he didn’t send me East and break off all contact.” She pauses, swallowing, as if the words are difficult to voice. “Luckily, she didn’t know about Or’myr, who was a baby at the time.” She pulls in a shaky breath. “Or’myr and I had to leave. You don’t understand what your grandmother was like. She meant it. She would have hunted me down and killed me. And she would have murdered Or’myr too. And because of me, your grandmother had the ultimate means of control over Edwin from that point on.”

“My aunt told me she had only just found out about you,” I say as outrage over Aunt Vyvian’s cruel words scalds through my lines.

Li’ra shakes her head. “Carnissa clearly never told Vyvian about Edwin and me. If she had, your aunt would haveneverallowed Edwin to take you and your brothers in. But... Edwin and Vyviandidknow that Vale and Tessla were murdered for treason. They both knew what your grandmother was capable of doing to hold on to power. And what the Mages, as a whole, were capable of.”

“So, Uncle Edwin stayed in the Western Realm and sent you and Or’myr East to save your lives,” I piece together in a constricted voice.

“And to saveyours,” Li’ra insists, growing impassioned. “Edwin cared deeply about you and your brothers. He couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you alone in the West without protection.” Her expression darkens. “And he feared that one of you might possess true power.”

“Black Witch power,” I amend, feeling distraught.

Li’ra nods, a look of great sorrow in her eyes. “Edwin knew it was a possibility. And he didn’t want to see that power fall into the hands of the Gardnerians.”

“He hid my power from me,” I say as tears glass my eyes. “But he told me...before he died...” Grief tightens my throat and for a moment I can’t speak, can barely breathe. My cousin Or’myr’s long arm comes around me as a tear breaks free from Li’ra’s eyes, her own face tight with sorrow. “He told me,” I force out in a splintered voice, “that he was wrong to hide my power from me. He told me I should fight the Gardnerians.”

“You need to understand, Elloren,” Li’ra says, her own voice coarsened by tears. “The Mages thoughtnothingof killing anyone opposed to them. Edwin didn’t want any more of the people he loved dying. And... I think he felt the Mages couldn’t be fought. That the best one could hope for was to escape their notice.”

“But he changed his mind.”

Li’ra nods, seeming too overcome to say more. Trystan moves to console her, one hand coming to her arm, and she pats his hand appreciatively.

“So, you and Or’myr left the Western Realm,” I finally say as tears streak down my face.

Li’ra nods again, her mouth turning down in a trembling grimace. “Edwin gave us all his money. So we could get across the desert and get settled here.” Her voice fractures. “But I would have traded all that money to just have had him with us.” She breaks off, quietly crying, as the realization washes over me of why we were so poor growing up and always dependent on Aunt Vyvian, the stories of my uncle squandering all his money on expensive violins a complete fabrication.

And now it’s also clear why Uncle Edwin never employed Urisk servants, even when Aunt Vyvian offered to supply them, my imperious aunt often chiding my uncle for having my brothers and me do the housework, the barn work, the gardening, and the violin shopwork. I realize now why my uncle always seemed ready to break into tears when considering the Gaffneys’ Urisk farmworkers’ situation and how the Urisk were treated in general.

You had so much secret pain, I think, aching for him. I wish you could have told us what was in your heart. I wish Rafe and Trystan and I could have at least tried to console you.

“There was no other way than silence,” Li’ra says, as if reading my anguished thoughts. “Truly, Elloren, there was no other way.”

A rush of heat blazes over me and I look to Wrenfir across the table, Or’myr’s arm still wrapped around my shoulder as Wrenfir’s fire magery whips protectively around us both. “How did you get here?” I ask him.

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